Visits
by AruuYuda-ShoriKyuyu
Summary: There were still nights that he would cry until he slept, clutching on his father's old coat which made him feel nostalgic. His Crime Coefficient was still stuck to three digits, which were horrifying. But there was his confidant, always by his side. [Slight GinAka, set after Masaoka/Makishima's deaths, one-shot]


_AruuYuda-ShoriKyuyu: Have a feely one-shot, since this is all I could do for now. Heheh. This is based off some PP Headcanons and some images which I saw 'round Tumblr, and of course some of my imagination. It's a bit GinAka (again, because I can't write REAL ROMANCE _TuT_), set after Makishima and Masaoka's deaths._

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"You're good, Tsunemori-san."

Akane Tsunemori stood up from her seat, patting the bandage that was wrapped around her head, feeling a small stinging pain as she did so. She cringed. Her skull had been slightly damaged after Shogo Makishima laid his foot on the side of her head _that_ _day_. It only needed a slight re-alignment, and now it was fine. Only a friction scratch, a bruise, and a faint pain were left.

She glanced at the mirror propped up on the physician's desk. She frowned at herself, at _Shogo Makishima_, sadly at _Shinya Kougami..._angrily at _Sibyl_. She looked simply beaten up – with the cloth bandage around her head, a plaster over her left cheek, and another smaller plaster over the back of her right palm – but her emotional pain was greater than what she looked like. Still, her Hue was clear as ever, retaining to Powder Blue. Wasn't that inaccurate? The digits, the hues...they didn't reflect how she truly felt.

"The bruise is clearing up, as well as the scratches. In a few days, you could take them off. Just keep them clean to make restoration quick."

"I understand. Thank you, doctor." Akane gave a polite bow before exiting the office. She walked through the hallways of the MWPSB, wanting to go out. Many things had been running through her mind, and this day, she wanted to do many.

One of them was visiting the _core_ of Sibyl. The very heart of the System governing the country. _Governing the mere sheep. _Driving towards NONA Tower felt stressful. Most of her anger was directed to the System. Even stomping on the metal staircases leading to the core felt heavy with anger, with great resentment. But still, despite all of this, she knew that the country couldn't carry on without them.

Once again, the brains of the criminally-asymptomatic were all in front of her. All calculating every citizens' Psycho-Pass. All proudly operating in front of her. They exchanged words, a conversation of promises, anger, warnings, guarantees...it was an unnerving talk. Even her own life was on the line. Just a little hint about Sibyl's true form spoken to other people would put her life at stake.

"_One day, somebody will go in this room and turn off your power."_

Their aggravating conversation ended with her turning away from them and the brains of the System mentioning her name.

"_Akane Tsunemori... Fight. Struggle. So that it may lead us to evolve."_

The Sibyl System's last words aimed towards her echoed, ringing in her head. But she didn't let it affect her in a negative way. Since the day she knew about this truth, she couldn't hear the voice of the System as she held on her Dominator like before. It was different. It felt like whenever she heard the voice as it read a target's Crime Coefficient, the voice seemed to sneer at her.

She left NONA Tower, with another plan running through her mind. She planned to visit her fellow Inspector Nobuchika Ginoza in the rehabilitation facility to see how he was doing.

It had been five days since _that day, _and this was the second day since she was released from the infirmary. She heard, while she was still confined, that Tomomi Masaoka – Nobuchika's father – had died, and that Nobuchika's arm had been ripped off accidentally, and was sent back to be operated. She also heard that his Crime Coefficient rose past the accepted number, and this worried her, because she knew that his Psycho-Pass wasn't as strong as hers.

Driving back to the Bureau was not as stressful as her last drive to NONA Tower, but rather, she was just worried about her coworker. Getting off her car, she went straight towards the rehabilitation facility.

Soon enough, she found him. He was lying down as tears streamed down his pale cheeks. His right arm was covering his eyes, staining his sleeve with tears. His glasses weren't on – she nearly didn't recognize him. He looked different. He even seemed to be a different person, different from the Ginoza-san she knew.

A drone was passing by, and she tried to call it. The drone came obediently.

"Inspector Akane Tsunemori. Do you need anything?"

"I have to get in his room," Akane said, pointing at her coworker who was still crying silently.

"I'm sorry, but no one should enter the rooms of latent criminals."

As Akane heard that term, she felt her blood rush in anger, her temperature rising. She wanted to rage. _Ginoza-san isn't a latent criminal. He hasn't done anything wrong. _"Just let me in."

"No one should enter the rooms of latent criminals," the drone repeated. "You can talk to him in the interrogation room, Inspector Akane Tsunemori."

"That's no way to _console_ someone. You don't understand." Of course the drone didn't understand. Drones didn't have feelings, therefore they didn't know what "console" meant.

"Insp-"

"I have to speak to one of the doctors here. Please," Akane interrupted, trying hard not to rage at the drone who didn't understand human feelings. The drone turned around and wheeled away. One facility doctor approached her shortly.

"I've been informed that you need one of us, Inspector Tsunemori?" he asked.

"I have to get in Ginoza-san's room," Akane tried. The man clad in a laboratory coat seemed to flinch.

"But-"

"Please don't worry about me. He's my coworker, and I _have_ to talk to him. And if you're worrying about my Psycho-Pass being affected, no, it won't." All of those words were said quite blankly, with her eyes looking straight at the doctor. The doctor seemed to be unable to force her out.

"I have to accompany you ins-"

"I need privacy. It's a sensitive talk. Of course, if you were in my place, you don't want someone overhearing your conversation. You can stay out and just guard the door," she said. _"Please."_

The doctor sighed and turned towards the glass entrance of her coworker's room's door. "Nobuchika Ginoza-san. A visitor for you." Opening the door, he grunted as Nobuchika jerked up in surprise, sitting up, and Akane quickly moved in. The doctor closed the door and grudgingly stayed out. Rules have been broken, he realized.

"Ginoza-san!"

"Tsune...Inspector Tsunemori..."

He truly seemed to be a different person. At the sight of her, Nobuchika couldn't help but cry again. He felt too heavy with grief and pain – he almost couldn't take it. Everyone left him behind, his best friend with his demotion and now, his betrayal; and now his father, which made him regret being resentful towards him most of his life. He even thought that Akane would leave him, too, because she trusted the others and perhaps, feared him because of his harsh treatment towards her.

Akane went straight in front of him and offered a consoling and comforting embrace. She, too, was crying. He seemed helpless right now. Weak. She knew what he was going through, and she felt bad for him. She knew that he needed someone beside him.

"I'm sorry for how things turned out... I'm...I'm really s-sorry..." she said, warm tears sliding down her cheeks, down on his head, dampening his jet-black hair.

"You're...not to be blamed...Inspector Tsunemori..." he said, still shaking as he wept, taking in heavy breaths. He couldn't call her by her surname without any honoring title anymore – he wasn't worthy to act like her superior anymore. He was now put in the category of latent criminals, very far from her rank. Akane let him cry in her embrace, until he was tired and let go. He gazed at her, eyes red.

"Visitors aren't allowed inside here..." he said with a questioning look.

"I have to see you, Ginoza-san," she replied. Her eyes drifted down towards his left shoulder, where the sleeve of his shirt was just dangling. No limb was under it, just like what she heard when she was still confined. "I...I'm really sorry for Masaoka-san and you...I..."

"You are not to be blamed..." he interrupted, looking down. "It was my fault... I carelessly-" He couldn't finish his sentence, turning away, gritting his teeth and crying once again. Akane reached out to grip his right shoulder in assurance.

"If you can't tell me yet, it's all right," she said. At the corner of her eye, she saw the doctor outside, looking at them with heavy-lidded eyes. She sighed. "Ginoza-san, I have to leave. I promise I'll come back here tomorrow. Everyday."

Nobuchika nodded, not making eye contact with the young woman. "I'm sorry. Thank you..."

Akane exited the room with a heavy feeling. She glared sideways to the doctor who closed the door, after saying a low "thank you". They, under Sibyl, do not understand human feelings and thoughts anymore, it seemed. She couldn't wait for tomorrow, for the next days, being able to visit Nobuchika. It took him three days before he was able to tell her everything that happened to him.

"I was careless. I'm such a disappointing son, am I not?" Nobuchika bitterly uttered. "I think I won't be able to come back out as a normal citizen anymore. I'm a latent criminal. I didn't live up to my father's expectations."

"Ginoza-san..."

"My Crime Coefficient just before you entered was 140. It even reaches 145 at times, especially when I feel most depressed. The first day I came here, it was...149. Since the day you visited, it came down to 145. It was just now that it lowered to 140."

Having somebody by your side, Akane remembered, aided well in mental therapy. Just like what Tomomi told her when he was still alive, during the Talisman Avatar case – _"humans are social by nature."_

Three weeks passed by. In between, doctors prepared a mechanical left arm for Nobuchika, and had it attached to him after a few days. He was to practice and exercise his movement. Meanwhile, his Crime Coefficient was still fluctuating by three digits. Akane never failed to allot an hour everyday just for the sake of visiting him. He still didn't want to return to the Bureau because of his Psycho-Pass. He thought that he had to make his father happy by still being an Inspector, with a decent reputation. By returning with three digits, he would lose this reputation.

No, he didn't want his father to be dismayed. However, another three weeks passed by. No improvement of his Crime Coefficient was seen, even though Akane observed his demeanour being lighter than the first week since her first visit. He spoke to her more often, telling her how he felt, what he thought.

It was still, to him, a horrifying three-digit Crime Coefficient. It was all ironic – telling Akane to take care of her Psycho-Pass; not wanting to end up like Shinya Kougami and his father, who were demoted from being esteemed people to being Enforcers – but here he was, already a latent criminal with no chance of recovery.

"I'll go back."

"Hm...?" Akane had to come closer in order to hear what he just muttered. Nobuchika sighed heavily and looked up at Akane with an apologetic smile.

"I'll go back, as an Enforcer. As your subordinate. I have to go back."

Akane couldn't believe what she just heard. "A-are you sure, Ginoza-san?"

"I'll look forward to working with you, Inspector Tsunemori. Again..." he said, bowing down in front of the young woman who couldn't reply properly due to surprise. However, she offered a hand, and Nobuchika gladly accepted it, shaking it.

Akane did what she had to do to take Nobuchika in the Unit, and after a day, he was called to pack up and go out of the rehabilitation facility. He was given a room – at least it was better than staying inside the rehab forever. Nothing would be the same, with half of Unit 1 gone, and with everything that happened. Nobuchika planned to visit his father's grave, and Akane was willing to accompany him as an Inspector, as well as a friend that would be by his side every time.

There were still nights that Nobuchika wanted to cry to sleep, clutching on his father's coat which he usually wore during field works back then, whenever memories flooded his thoughts. There were times that his left shoulder stung with pain whenever he moved his artificial arm, and it made him think how his father endured this pain when he was still a starting user of this limb. There were times that he would look at a few pictures of him and the Unit when he was still an Inspector, and feel nostalgic. He would sometimes feel his eyes warm up, forming droplets of tears, but he would try not to let them out.

Most of the time, he felt negative, sentimental. But he would be thankful in the end for Akane, who became his confidant. He always thought how he could apologize to her for being so harsh to her back then. He remembered the time he called her a mere _child_ – a _brat_ who was _confused_ by everything and anything. But looking at her now, she wasn't the Akane Tsunemori he met on her first night as an Inspector, who was all wide-eyed, innocent, and full of questions. She wasn't the Akane who had a pigeon's heart whenever she saw gory crime, unlike before. She was truly smart, capable, and strong. He even thought that she became, or was, better than him.

Every night, before Akane went back to her own place, they would go to the balcony of the Bureau where they (as well as the others back then) usually talked to each other privately. They would see the city lights and take it as a way of calming down.

"Thank you for everything, Inspector Tsunemori."

"Anytime, Ginoza-san," Akane would say whenever she had to leave, and Nobuchika, left behind with a slight smile of, perhaps, appreciation, would turn back and return to his own Enforcer's quarters.

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_AruuYuda-ShoriKyuyu: There... It's the one-shot... "orz It didn't come out as what I imagined, but oh, well... And I think it wasn't that feely... Anyways, please leave a review! *bows*_


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